Strike Team X
by TitansFan18
Summary: The first throwdown between X and the Strike Force is on. Strike Force action assured, no coupling yet UPDATED Chap 5!Some minor Titan Jokes included
1. An Offer You Can't Refuse

First off, I'll bet there'll be like a hundred something mispelles on this fanfic, for a very clear reason: my spellcheck only does Hebrew, folks, take it out with it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or anyone else in that matter.

Full summary: In the episode "Revved Up" Red X fights Robin while using his belt, also, in the wideshot during "Homecoming II" Red X is shown wearing his belt. How did it get to him? This little fic will try to shed some light on that mystery.

Chapter one: an Offer You Can't Refuse

"Titans, **GO**!"

"Oh, no" Red X turned his head right, to see three explosive discs heading his way. Leaving the safe he was cracking half opened, he took a chance and leaped out of the window, 45 stories high. As he jumped out, a wave of flames created by Robin's discs erupted from. the window behind him, scorching the air. The burgler streched his arms and legs out, forming his body into the shape of an X and dove down the long drop to the sidewalk below. Back in the office building, Robin and Cyborg stood, looking down to see the masked thief rocketing down towards the floor

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Cyborg exclaimed, Red X was a lot of things, but crazy wasn't on the list

"Beast Boy, Raven, he jumped down" the Boy Wonder annouced through his communicator. Outside the building, Raven responded

"Last time he pulls one of these stunts off" she commented dryly as X flew past her and Beast Boy in eagle form. She directed herself downward and flew after the dark teen, untill he was in grasp range of her powers, it was then when Red X noticed that he had stopped falling and was levitating through the air inside a black orb

"I have him" Raven radioed in

"Lock him in the T-Car, I don't even want to give him the slightest chance to escape" Robin replied. The Sorceress then proceeded to lowering both herself and the orb down, but she made a mistake; she came too close. X noticed a way out, the eye slits in his mask narrowed

"Gotcha!" he said and grabbed Raven by her cloak, pulling it off her and making her lose concentration, thus making the orb burst and allowing X to resume his amazing 30 story drop. Eagle Beast Boy wasted no time and set off after the thief who was now using Raven's cloak as a parachute, he gained enough momentum to swing himself into the building window, feet first and dodging Beast Boy's attack which now just tore Raven's cloak in bits

"He's inside the building again, dude, 26th floor!" Beast Boy, now in human shape said through his communicator as he stepped inside the building through the window X broke. Inside, the Shape Shifter walked in the form of a green snake, allowing himself to slither into one of the nearby ground level vents and to the ceiling, from which he could observe the entire floor without X seeing him. It didn't take the Anaconda too long to find the theif, who was creeping in and between cubicals, always checking his surroundings for any unforseen interruptions. Beast Boy waited his time and made one final mind set

"_Go!_"

The ceiling tiles broke as a huge Anaconda snake burst through them and attacked X directly, warpping itself around the young man and beginning to squeeze harder and harder in order to drive enough air out of him to pass out.

X felt the strong muscles of the green serpant crushing every bone in his body, his legs were starting to feel cold, numb, out of control. They collapsed. He fell down to the ground while feeling the cold sensation now rising towards his torso, he had to do something fast, or it's the play pen for him.

"_Bingo_"

He found his salvation in the form of a loose electric wire, just a few feet from him. Using every remaining ounce of strength he had left, he rolled sideways, slowly, untill the green body of the snake touched the exposed wiring and got a massive joult of voltage running through him. Both the snake and X writhed in pain due to muscle contractions, but the Anaconda gave way first, shifting back to a passed out Beast Boy, now lying on the floor. X got up and was about to walk away when he noticed the wire was a tad too close for comfort. He gave the sparks one last look and then kicked the wire away from the young boy

"Fighting's fun and all, but that's just not safe" he commented and left through the open door

(S)

"Beast Boy? Beast Boy, come in" Robin radioed. No response. He slipped the communicator back into his pocket and proceeded down the darkened hall he was standing in.

"Beast Boy said X was in the 26th floor. He couldn't have gone too far down" He

muttered to himself as he busted through an elevator shaft using his staff. Robin then jumped on the elevator cord and repelled down in an amazing speed, his gloves protceting him from any friction burn.

As he touched down on an elevator roof, Robin's senses went hyper. He knew that feeling; Red X was close. Quickly opening the metal box's roof, Robin slipped in the floor, the electric monitor inside the lift read 14 in bright red numbers. The Boy Wonder stepped outside the lift, trying to make as less noise as possible as not to alert his counterpart. He saw a shadow coming in from a corner and quickly ducked behind a large sculpture, planning a sneak attack. The shadow was coming closer and closer, Robin's muscles tensed, and the exact moment, he leaped out of his hiding place

Nearly nailing a blow on Starfire's face

"Robin!" She exclaimed while jumping backwards, panting in fear. Realising what he had done, Robin retracted his staff and sighed

"Sorry Starfire" he began "But I was sure you were-"

"The Red X?" She cut him off. "I too am looking for him, but I'm afraid he has escaped"

"No he didn't" Robin said, determind "I know he's still here. We just need to keep looking"

"Yo Robin!" Came a voice through his communicator. It was Cyborg

"What is it, Cyborg?" He asked

"I hacked into the building's security system. Movement sensors show a track heading towards the parking lot on the underground floor"

"X" Robin hissed through his teeth "Come on!" he told Starfire, who quickly followed her team's leader

(S)

As one of Starfire's Starbolts knocked down a large steel door with a blue P branded on it, Robin's nose was blasted by the scorching smell of gasoline, his eyes on the other hand, were completly free, as all he saw was darkness

"Gimmie some light, Star" he asked. As a response, Starfire raised one of her hands and charged a starbolt, lighting the underground sector in an eerie green light. It was then when he saw the trail of X's tattred cape vanish behind a large cement column, his eyes narrowed

"I know you're here X!" He exclaimed while running like a madman, Starfire flying closely behind him, both headhing towards X's hiding place

"Please, surrender! We wish not to use violance!" Starfire shouted

"_Speak for yourself_" Robin thought while drawing his staff. At that second, they were both startled by the loud noise of a motorcycle engine being turned on

"You're gonna have to catch me first" X's distored voice echoed through the large underground lot. His hand gunned the bike's throttle and he rocketed past the small barrier he was hiding behind and in between the startled Robin and Starfire. They both snapped out of it together, with Robin throwing another wave of discs at the bike and Starfire just blasting away with her Starbolts.

X steered his bike skillfully through the sea of explosions all around him. He knew that if he made it to the exit ramp, he will no longer be in their line of fire. In order to achive that, he threw his bike sideways, dodging an oncoming eye blast and gunning his bike again, forcing his engine to chuck up more and more speed. Tires screeched and the smell of burnt fuel filled the air as the bike zoomed past indicator signs and explosions, nicking the onramp just a few miliseconds before a freezing disc hit the corner he just took, erecting a large pillar of ice.

Robin stopped running and took a few deep breaths while starfire flew past him, still aiming to help her friend in capturing the elusive criminal

"Cyborg, he's making his way out of the building. Don't let him escape!" Robin cried through the communicator while still trying to settle his breathing.

"Gotcha man. He's not making it out. Now way" Cyborg replied. Robin gave him a sharp smile and signed off, now contacting Raven. Still outside the building

"Raven, I need you to check up on Beast Boy. He's not responding"

"Where should I look?" she asked, a slight note of worry in her voice

"I lost contact with him after he went into the 26th floor. Robin, out"

(S)

A turn of the ignition brought the powerful V-6 engine of the T-Car to life, a voletile mixture of fuel and nitro ran through the tubes, powering a miniature power plant mounted inside the roaring machine, bringing the onboard computer, along with the weapon systems to life. Cyborg, the half man- half machine member of the titans team rolled the car to the parking lot's exit, readying the weapon systems to use. It didn't take too long before his scanners picked up a target, and it was coming at him fast. A few seconds later, he could see the motorcycle's headlights in the darkened tunnel.

X screeched to a halt, right in front of the T Car, he couldn't take it on, he knew that

"I'm gonna give you one last chance to surrnder, X" Cyborg shouted through the car's massive speaker system "We don't have to end it this way" In response to that, X just twisted his bike's throttle, pumping some extra high octane fuel into the engine

"I'm serious man, don't!" Cyborg yelled. At that moment, two rows of the T-Car's heat seeking missiles were drawn out, already locked on X's heat signature

"Beleive me, there's nothing I'd like more" X told himself and gunned his bike, speeding right towards the T-Car's hood. Cyborg, not surprised by X's action, fired the missiles which flew in a direct ninty degrees angle, leaving a trail of smoke as they made their way towards the dark sky. X nicked his front wheel on the hood and rode across the T-Car, and from there to the ally. A quick order from Cyborg's CPU caused a series of direction rockets to be fired, causing the large car to make a one hundred and eighty degrees turn. The nitro engine fired up and the T-Car roared it's way afrer the small bike.

-Receiving positional Data-

-Target Locked-

-ETA: 15 Seconds-

The target data from Cyborg's computer was finally fed to the prelaunched missiles, which now stopped their free-fall and fired up, tracking X's bike

"You can't be serious!" The thief exclaimed once seeing the six missiles diving towards him, he took a sharp corner and vanished into an ally, the missiles still after him.

In the meantime, Starfire made her way out of the tunnel, to see a huge orange and red explosoion towering from a city block, not too far from her. She flew higher to get a better view of the damage

"On no..." She let out silently and pulled out her communicator

"Friends..." She said with a shakey voice "I... I think the Red X is dead"

(S)

He awoke. Not knowing where, or when is he. Slowly opening his eyes, he discovered his field of vision has been turned to a wide smear of blue and black, his vision was as blurry as it can get

"_Must be an optics problem caused by the explosion_" he throught and blinked hard, activating his mask's optics unit in hopes of switching to a functional vision mode, but when he opened his eyes, the blue smudge was still there. He tried again, with similar consequences and then decided he needed to force a manual overwrite, which was done by touching two touchpads on the upper right portion of his mask, but as he did, he touched something unlike the usually cold material of his mask, something hairy

His eyebrow

As the painful realization hit him, he tried to take a deep breath, to calm his nerves down, but realized he couldn't

There was something in his throat. Choking him

He gasped for dear air, grabbing and yanking on the large tube sticking out of his mouth. He could feel his lungs burning up with lack of oxygen, and then, the tank he was in exploded, sending a shower of glass and liquid everywhere. The young man crumbled down to the cold wet metal floor that was under him and with one final pull, took the tube out of his mouth, taking a deep breath and with it, coughing up a blue substance that was in his lungs.

He remained on all fours for quite a while, gasping and fixing his breath, untill he was finally ready to get up. As he did, the young man looked down on himself and saw he was stripped down. Not panicing, he scanned his surroundings; he was in a lab of some sort, in the middle of a dark room, poorly lit by some dark blue lights, placed in random locations. In front of him was a large black glass window underwhich was a small metallic table with none other but his suit, resting neatly folded on it. He quickly picked up the top item; his mask and secured it to his face, using the black headpiece. Only then he was able to relax, beacuase he had stopped being naked, and have an identity. He had stopped being a man and got back to being just a name

Red X

"Ah, so you can get dressed for yourself, that's good" Those words, along with a quiet snicker, came like a lightning bolt down X's spine. He quickly jumped back and turned around, switching his mask to Thermal mode, turning his world deep blue and quickly scanning the room. Nothing

"Who are you? Show yourself!" He demanded and in response got another snicker

"I am afraid you're in no place to make demands, my friend" The voice answered. It was a man's voice, with a heavy hispanic accent. X could still not find the source of the voice, it was bouncing off the walls and echoing back. His eyes narrowed

"Well, I was kinda sure that blast killed me... The least I deserve are some explenations, _Pedro_" As he finished his sentence, a gun went off and a silvery objecet bounced near his right foot, forcing him to jump left and roll across the cold floor

"Okay, not a big fan of sarcasm. I can work with that" He muttered and rubbed his aching right leg. A loud noise caught his attention; the large black screen has now turned into a yellow-ish color and displayed the dark outlines of a large figure

"I would recommend you to watch your tongue, my friend, that is, if you desire to keep it" the figure said. X just narrowed his eyes in response. Sensing his untold submission, the shadow continued

"I have saved you from a certain death for a reason, my dear Red X. There is something I want-"

"You mean 'Something I need'" X cut him off, taunting. Another gunshot went off, right between X's legs

"You need to understand, my dear theif. I have the advantage. You, on the other hand, are with a slight handicap. You lack a certain..." the figure held up a tube of some sort, containing a bright red radiating liquid

"Flare"

"Xenuthium" X mouthed the word. The precious fuel for his suit, the very thing that turns him from a mere professional theif to a danger with such a magnitute that it requires the personal care taking of the Teen Titans.

"Blackmailing me with Xenothium?" He chuckled "Apperantly you havn't been keeping up with the news, _Pedro_. You can pump me with all the Red you can get, it still won't matter without-"

"Your belt?" the figure seemed amused "It is most amusing that you mention it, my friend, because the object I wanted you to steal is located next door to a certain...Fassion accesory that you desire" In response, X just narrowed his eyes, annoyed

"You're full of bull!" He spat, throwing his arms forward "It's common knowledge that the belt is in cold storage at Titans Tower. Breaking in there is crazy..." He paused "Even though I did it once"

"And what if I told you that Bruce Wayene did not allow Robin to keep the remains of the Red X weapon system at the tower? What if he had them transoprted to an off shore stealth storage unit? Wha-"

"Whoa, whoa. Rewind" X told him "What did you mean when you said 'Remains'? The suit and the belt are Red X, nothing more"

"Ah, you are mistaken, my friend" The hispanic one said, surprising X "The weapon system also consists of a high speed assault motorcycle, much like Robin's R-Cycle" X started thinking up his options. He needed a plan to make it big with this given goldmine

"What about the Titans?" X asked. Without his belt, he'll be traget practice for the team of superheros, he knew that the escape he pulled off was nothing more than a lucky break. The figure laughed.

"The Teen Titans? Oh of course, you do not know...So much has happened during your...Eh, absence"

The sceen was now emitting a television broadcast. X recognized the background. City hall, it was a press confrence. Behind the wooden stand, on which several microphones were mounted, stood the Teen Titans. Robin in the middle, in front of the microphones. To his right, a sobbing Starfire and Raven, who seemed gloomier than usual. To his right, Beast Boy and Cyborg, the latter just staring blankly into the air, looking pale. Cameras flashed in their faces, and then the Boy Wonder raised both his arms into the air, calling them to stop. Once the flashing has stopped, he lowered his arms and addressed the press

"After the incident that took place last week at SotoTech, I hereby declare than the Teen Titans are... " He gulped "Are shutting down all crime fighting operations in Jump city untill further notice—" Starfire broke in tears and he was bombarded by questions from the numerous press members, but raised his arms again

"I ASSURE-" He raised his voice, the people settled "I assure you the saftry of Jump City will be kept by another team of superheros. The Titans East Who will contact the local authoraties three days from now. Untill then, the Titans will remain operaional. That is all" With that, the five teens walked off stage. The Camera continued to follow them untill it met two Jump City officers. Te screen now displayed the black outline of the figure once more.

"I will give you some time to concider my offer...And get dressed. I will return shortly" As the sentence was finished, the screen faded to black. Leaving X with the same poorly lit space that he started with. He preceeded to unfolding his suit and fitting himself into it; the Jet Black uniform, the grey gloves, the combat boots, and last but not least; the tattred cape, becoming Red X, the theif, once again.

"_I'll do it_"

(S)


	2. Shipwrecked

Not too many review for that chapter...I wonder why. Eh, never mind that! On with chapter two!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my PC.

Chapter Two: Shipwrecked

It was a quiet flight back to the tower. Not too many words were exchanged, unlike every other flight the Teen Titans took in their orange T Ship. Usually, the Comm. Channel would be overloaded with bothersome chit chat; Cyborg, talking about his car, or arguing with Robin about whatever, and Starfire and Beast Boy bragging and gloryfing their's and their team's action in combat, the latter mostly bragging about his own actions and later on being shot down by one of Raven's comments.

But not today

Today the channel was completly clear, aside from Starfire's occasional sobbing. The Titans sat motionless in their cockpits, the auto pilot was handling the flight. Cyborg, in the back seat, was still staring blankly into space, still pale.

I can't believe it's all over..." Someone whispered, Beast Boy. The others looked at him through their plexiglass shells. He was gloom, even his usually pointy ears were slumped. Robin opened his mouth, he wanted to tell his friend that it's not true, that they'll be back in action in a day- a week- a month

But he couldn't

Someone sobbed, Thinking it was Starfire, he naturally turned towards her to comfort her, it wan't her

Not this time.

Raven

She was sobbing quietly, sniffs that could be bearly heard and small silvery tears that rolled across her cheek

"We- - -" She sniffed "We killed a man"

"No" A voice came through everyone's headphones, Cyborg "I killed him" his voice sounded hollow

"He must've run away" Starfire added between one sob and another "We have seen him get away from perdicaments far worse than that"

"The Fire investigator said he didn't stand a chance" Robin finally said. Everyon'e attention was turned to him. He was there when they re-created the sequence of events

"He dodged the first four missiles, there were burn marks all over that ally. The fifth one got his front wheel, and when he was strugling to keep the bike balanced-"

"Sixth missile hits under his fuel tank. The thing blew up right between his legs" Cyborg completed. He read the report as well

"But perhaps there is still-" Starfire uttered, trying to hold on to a fragment of hope

"I saw the body" Robin said coldly, dropping a bombshell. Everyone went silent, as they should, Robin thought. The sight of the body at the morgue made him sick to his stomach.

"We're coming up on the tower" Beast Boy, who was quiet all through the flight said

"Better contact the Titans East"

"Good idea" Robin said, flipping some switches in his cockpit

"Titans East, come in" He said once "Titans Ea- Oh, hi Bumblebee. Yeah, like we settled, we're packing all of our bagage and out by six. Where are we staying? That doesn't matter, you can still contact us through the communicators. Cyborg will help you merge both our databases so you can keep track of what's happening in Steel City even if you're at the Tower. Yeah, thanks. Robin out"

He signed off, and looked at his reflection in the plexiglass canopy. He still looked the same, like he did yesterday, and the day before yestray.

He didn't look like a murderer

(S)

At the tower, things ran mechanically smooth. It took the titans about an hour to disassemble their rooms and group their belongings at the living room, but each of the titans was falling apart, in his or hers own way.

Robin was at the gym, as usual, turning his depression to anger, and using in to apply hurt to motionless dummies.

Right Hook

Side Kick

Double punch to the chest

Roundhouse

He stood there, fixing his breath. The dummy got back to its upright position, ready for another round of abuse.

(S)

Starfire was in Raven's room. On her bed, sobbing. Raven on the other hand, sat beside her, trying to bring comfort to her friend

"It'll be okay, Star, I know it would" She lied, she didn't know anything at that moment, nothing was concrete solid, everything could change at the flick of a wrist

"No, it will not, Raven" she said, whipping "We took a man's life! On Tamaran, someone who does this, is called 'Mizrabojian'. They stay on the planet for some time, but then they just...Disappear. Never to return" She buried her head in Raven's shoulder, crying warn tears. It didn't take too long before Raven joined her, her friend's tears were just too much for her to bear.

(S)

50 Caliber Armor Piercing rounds

S.T.X Anti Tank rockets

'Crow' Class five Heat Seeking Missiles

Type 7 photon cannons

Dual MP-50 repeating Pulse Lasers

S.T.A.R Labs S.C.W-93088e High Frequency Sonic Cannon

"Useless pieces of metal!" Cyborg yelled and tossed the tray in front of him aside. He used to put all his trust into his and his car's weapon systems. He designed them all to only stun. Never seriously hurt, or kill. Even tougher enemies like Cinderblock or Plasmus had warheads and voltage definition specifically made for them, so others won't get hurt

Like Red X did

He punched the wall out of rage, breaking a hole in it. He peered outside and saw the ocean, so large and blue. The deep blue, that's how and his dad used to call it. Now he realized why. It was the one time when he could look at the ocean and not out of an information scan on a recon mission of some sort

"_Cone on it, the water's great_" He remembered Red X saying just before he blew up a large metal catwalk, dropping the five titans into a huge tank of glue, then getting away with another makeshift bomb he planted earlier. It took days to peel that thing off and Beast Boy had to grow all his fuzz back

"Yup" he thought out loud. Red X was pretty cunning for one of the local theives. On the other hand, X was nothing but local. His convictions included warrents from Jump City, Gotham and Metropolis. The Interpol was so desprate it had one of the largest bounties ever on his head, alive of course and rumour had it that the Justice League held a personal grudge against the masked burgler

"Cyborg, come in, Cyborg!" his communiocator shouted. Robin

"I'm just about done here man" the Android said.

"Take you time" Robin replied. Maybe it was becuase they were five hours ahead of schedule, maybe because he wanted to let his friend pick up the broken pieces of his soul. Cyborg didn't detect any pity in his leader's voice, so he assumed it to be the first one

"Gotcha. Cyborg, out"

Shutting off his communicator, Cyborg lied on his vertical bed and fell asleep. He didn't go to sleep to often, just recharged himself. The last time he went to sleep was after they defeated Trigon. He felt tired after their victory dinner, when Starfire put strips of bacon on her head and pretended to be some kind of a monster, he didn't remember how she called it (A/N: Actually, I didn't). They laughed about it for days, even Raven did.

Usually, he'd just plug himself to the power cord and play online games all night long. Sometimes, an awakened Beast Boy would join him. This time it wasn't so. He plugged himself in, and closed his eyes

Dreaming of that day

(S)

Beast Boy was watching the city from a bird's eye view, the hawk sliced through clouds as it scanned the downtown section, past the buisness district and the southern end

The Tech district

He saw the large construction site near the ally X blew up in. The city workers had already cleaned the place up, you could walk through the place and be completley oblivious to what that had happened there three days ago

But he knew better than that

He tried to find ways to blame it on himself, he didn't want his friend to feel so said, he told Cyborg that he had fought X earlier that night

If he was only able to stop him

He flew back to the tower, his bags were already packed, he didn't really know where were they going, only Robin did, and he didn't want to tell them. Beast Boy had three days to figure it out, now he only had five hours left

"_Could be Gotham, or maybe we'll just dig a big hole and disappear in it_" The thought of the five of them cramped up in a tiny hole made Beast Boy laugh, it was good for him

He didn't even crack a joke in the past three days.

On the way to his room he heard crying from Raven's room, he wanted to enter, but felt that he shouldn't. Starfire was there too, he could hear her voice. He looked at his watch; the green digital display showed 15:59.

"_Just two more hours_" he thought with tears in his eyes

"_Time to break that speed record at Wipeout 2k6_"

(S)

(A/N: I request your forgiveness about the next bit. Apperantly I have little or no knowledge in Spanish, and so, I'd prefer if Mas Y Menos spoke very little, it's not that I hate them, I just don't know spanish)

The blue vessel was making its way towards Titans Tower at a fairly slow speed. Inside sat the five members of the Titans East. They had a reason for going so slow; they were forced to fit their ship with an extra large cargo hold to move their entire command center to Titans Tower

"I can't believe they're quitting" Bumblebee said. She never doubted any of the Titans' desicions, especially Robin's, but this one just didn't make sense

"Well I can" Said a teen with a long slick and dark hair, dark eyes and a white and blue wetsuit; Aqualad

"I mean, the Titans are supposed to be the defenders of justice, they swore on that when they set up their tower. And now they killed someone, how can you expect the city folk to trust them anymore?"

"How can you expect them to trust themselves anymore?" Speedy added. To him, the whole situation didn't make sense as well, but he had already accepted it. Mas and Menos nodded in agreement

"Titans West, we're coming up on the tower, open bay doors" Aqualad radioed in. In response, the large helipad on top of the tower opened up to reveal the inside of the landing bay; it was all colored silver, with several computers in the corners of the room. In the middle was a large black T. Painted on the floor. Speedy and Bumblebee steered the ship's thrusters so that it could land completly balanced. As it did, four vice like hands gripped the ship's engines, killing the burners.

The canopies opened up and the five members of the Titans East hopped out. The Teen Titans were already waiting for them, standing in a semicircle

"Glad you could make it" said Robin and shook Speedy's hand. He didn't even bother cracking a fake smile. Speedy replied with his usually firm handshake.

Bumblebee jumped on Cyborg, hugging him and crying. He in return hugged her back and whispered something in her ear, that made her stop crying, but she still held him tight.

Aqualad made his way to Beast Boy, the two exchanged glances, as they usually do

"So...How's everything, B?" the Atlantian asked

"Okay, I guess" he replied, optimistic as ever "We're all a little sad" Aqualad tried to find something to say, but couldn't. Instead, he slapped Beast Boy on the back of his head, that shook the boy a little

"Swimming contest?" he asked

"You bet!" Beast Boy replied. If there was something he could do to get away, it was to race Water Wart

In the far corner of the room, Raven and Starfire, along with Mas and Menos, were sitting on some tipped over crates and boxes. Both of them had already learned Spanish so they could communicate with the two speeding twins. They were trying to comfort the two girls in the best way they knew, but it wasn't enough

"We appriciate your concern, small spanish friends" Starfire said in Spanish "But the knowledge of what we have done is just too great"

"Healing takes time" Raven added, talking in English "So does emotional recovery" The two twins nodded, it had appeared that Raven and Starfire's uphappyness was contagious, as Mas and Menos had stopped smiling constantly, even they realized it was a serious moment

"But Starfire..." Mas started "He was a criminal, he caused suffering, he did damage, he wanted to-"

"Take care of number one" Robin, who overheard the conversation, cut him off "Red X wasn't a villian, he was just a theif, he didn't want to destroy the city, he was just selfish"

"Exactly my point" Raven said "As big of a threat as he posed, he didn't deserve it" Some crates were kicked over, Speedy shouted out of frustration

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" He yelled, scaring everyone, including Robin "So you made a mistake, it happens, to the best of us even, but that mistake is in the past! And it doesn't matter how much you're gonna sit and cry about it, at the end of the day, Red X is still gonna be dead, and you're gonna be alive. There is no need for you to end your life just becuase his ended"

"But they did not end..." Starfire sniffed "We took it from him" she once again burst into tears, Raven cpmforted her, so did Mas and Menos

"He was a theif, he knew the risks, just like you know the risk of being heros. Every job comes with a risk, especailly the line of work that Red X took"

"But we're heros. It's our job to keep the people of the city safe. Each and every one of them" Robin said coldly

"What about Slade? Would you weep over him if things were set in that way?" Speedy shot. Robin tried to answer him, but found no words, the archer sensed that

"Look" He said "All I'm saying is that you guys need some time off, get a grip on reality and get back to buisness. Know what I mean?" Robin gave him a meaningful look, and then broke a small smile

"Yeah" he replied "Good idea"

"What would you do without me?" Speedy said tauntingly. Robin shrugged and then jumped on top of the T Ship

"Titans!" he cried, every head was turned to him. At a moment's notice, Bumblebee gave Cyborg a quick kiss on the lips

"It's time to go"

(S)

"Pedro? Pedro! Hey, El Prezidente!" X cried. He was getting tired of standing in a cubical and awaiting his unknown captor to speak with him.

He wasn't much of a waiter.

It didn't take more than a minute for the screen to turn on after X made his demand. Once again, the darkened figure of the figure appeard. It turned towards X

"Ah, yes, my friend. Do you have an answer for me?"

"Yeah" X replied. Giving his mask a good yank to fix it on his face

"I'll do it"

"Excellant!" The figure hummed, sounding excited. X even expected it'll clap or something. A large flash of light engulfed the room, revealing it to be colored in a slivery white. The screen was actually deep blue now, the figure being bright yellow. Like someone flipped a Negative switch on the whole scene

"You will find the eqiupment you need for you mission to your left. The coordinates to your target are already locked into your Jet Ski-"

"Jet Ski?" X sounded amused. He strolled casually to the right end of the room to find something resembling a weapons rack; a couple of metal bars sticking out of the wall, holding several pieces of equipment inside them; a black shoulder mounted utility belt with six pockets, several smoke bombs and a single C4 charage, no remote through, it was on time delay, the red digits read 3.

"What? That's it? No laser watch? Ice glasses? Exploding pens? I'm insulted" X taunted. The figure chuckled.

"Open the first pocket, my firend, I think you will be just as pleased" it said. X rubbed his hands, they tingled with antcipation. He carefully opened the first compartment to pull out a small sheet of paper; a map of the starge unit and a red X on the map. He reached into the pocket again and pulled out a vile of a glowing red liquid which was smaller than a soda can.

"Xenothium" He let the word roll across his mouth. It meant so much to him

"Indeed. It's not too much, but it'll be enough to get you out of any...Unexpected complications" the figure replied slily. It alreted the theif.

"Got that right" X replied while strapping the belt on him, fastening its back buckle with a loud 'CLICK'

"One question though" He turned towards the screen

"Yes?"

"Where's the way out?" As a response, he heard the loud sound of pressurized air being released. A large golden airlock opened from behind him and revealed a large sea access hangar. It was already night, and the smell of salt water flushed the room. X inhaled deep, it smelled like freedom. He stepped inside the new space and there, docking safely, as if waiting for him, was the Jet Ski

"Beautiful" X mouthed. The whole thing was colored jet black, with two silver afterburners on the bottom. The sides were decorated by two thin red X's that went from the back to the front, and at the front, awaited him the white image of the skull, locked into a permanent glare

"Now we're talking" He said and hopped on. Turning the engine and blasting away full throttle, blowing away water and steam behind him. Back inside the room, behind the screen, the figure chuckled

"Indeed we are" it said. But the voice was no longer the same, the spanish accent was gone, the depth, the bass

It was a woman's voice

(S)

It was a foggy night at Jump City Bay. Grey and white coulds floated at sea level, blocking the vision for everyone who dared sailing in those dark waters. In the distance, the yellow image of the letter T glowed in the night. An occasional ship crossed once in a while, blowing its fog horn, alerting other ships of its presence, but that didn't stop the stealthy black Jet Ski from going towards his path.

"Never knew the open sea could be so much fun" X said, sarcasm clear in his distorted voice. For the past hour, he has been dodging the Coast Guard boats and some news helicopters, covering a recent shipwreck

Who cares.

One Quarter of a mile towards the target, X killed the afterburners. He switched his mask's vision to Full Spec. Allowing him to see into the unseen world of Infra Red and Lasers

"Not too cleaver, not that stupid either" He muttered. The sea was netter with a criss cross of red beams

Heat Sensors. He hated Heat Sesonors.

Sorting through the array of buttons on his dashboard, he found what he wishing for: Stealth mode. A quick push made the large machine as silent as a mouse, special pumps kicked in, pumping sea water into a circulation system near the engine, comparing the Jet Ski's temprature to that of the sea

"_Perfect_" he thought and advences through the now much foggy area of the bay. About five minutes later, he revieved a collision warning; he was very close to something, and whatever it was, it was _BIG_. Killing the engine and swithing his mask's vision mode to Night Vision, X made his way across the large vessel, the normally white eye slits in his mask now glowing Jade green. Finally finding what he was looking for; a ladder, he ditched the Jet Ski, tying it up to the first step in the ladder and climbing aboard the ship.

His first mistake.

(S)

"Bumblebee" Aqualad said, alerting his friend, who in that moment was busy sitting on the couch, fumbling with her B shaped weapons. She turned to him with a questoning "Hmmm?"

"A slinet alarm was tripped on a Wayne Enterprises storage facility, about twenty miles into the sea. They request we go and check it out"

"Alright!" She exclaimed and jumped out of her former position, grabbing her communicator

"Titans East, Trouble!"

(S)

Entering the facility wasn't half as hard as X thought. He took down a couple of armed guards, broke a couple of cameras, nothing worse than your avarage jewalry heist.

"_Either Rent-A-Cops have taken over the maximum security buisness, or I'm getting better by the second_" He thought. Ever so cocky. After a few minutes of walking in endless corridors, he found himself standing in front of a huge doorway, guarded by two, equivalently large, Titanium doors. He searched the sides for access panels, retinal scanners, anything, and go squat

He frowned and pulled out the C4 chrage, stapping it to the door

"And I was beginning to think I was gonna have some fun here" he muttered and ran to the end of the corridor

"Fire in the hole!" His mechanized voice cried

**BOOM!!!**

The whole ship rattled voilently as the explosion's shockwave tore through it. Needless to say that the two doors were no match for the large orange fireball and were now just smoldering memorials of their former selves.

X stepped inside the large storage unit, after one glace, he was almost drooling

The room was about the size of a shopping mall, filled with seemingly endless isles of equipment of all sorts, all with the Wp stamped all over them. Just a quarter, no a fifth of what was in there could set X for life, but that didn't bother him. He quickly undid the first compartment of his utility stap and unfolded the map, following it to his main objective, the thing Pedro sent him to recover. After a little stroll, he found it; a small black metallic box

"Heh, figures" He said "_Big things always come in small black metallic packages_". He slipped it into the sixth pocket of his starp and sealed it shut, quickly performing an inventory check by tapping each pocket. The Xenothium was still there in the first pocket, he could feel its warmth against his skin, like bottled fire. The second, third and fourth pockets contained the pins of three of his smoke grenades which he used while taking out the security cameras, the fifth one, one of his own makeshift Flashbangs and the sixth was now containing the box. Looking at the map, he turned to follow _his_ main objective

His belt

He sorted through large racks of weapons and technology recovered by Robin from Slade, stealtch generators, remote bombs, the Chronotron Detonator and a small vile of blood marked "ReAgent" in black handwriting. Moving on to a next rack, he found it; resting at the top. Still black, not even a single mark of dust on it. His eyes shined when he held it. He could feel a slight chill running through his spine as his eyes went through the black and red inlining of the storage cells. He pressed on top of the first ones from each side of the buckle, which was now branded with a dull, powerless red X. The lids on the two cells popped open, and the burgler proceeded into slowly poring the unstable red liquid from the vile to the cells, distributing in to half, one to the left, and one to the right.

Once done, he clicked the cells shut, and strapped the belt on him. It still fitted. He pressed the X in his belt's buckle and the system kicked in. He could feel two pins connect from the buckle to the suit, pumping in the unstable energy into the system. The X buckle was now shining red, and X's mask was now displaying him a bright red notification that all weapons systems were back online, and that he had only fifteen percent of the belt's Xenothium capacity filled

"_Like Perdro said, only good for a short combat_" He thought and turned to leave.

Footsteps. He wasn't alone

"Come on, whoever's in here can't be too far" He heard a voice. It was a girl, but not a Teen Titan, he didn't recognize her voice. He couldn't risk activating his cloaking device, he could run out of power. He decided to sneak past whoever was there in the old fashion way.

He quickly ducked down and walked slowly, quietly. Passing numerous weapons racks and starnge devices, including something that seemed to him like a souped up remote control

"_Gotta be one heck of a story behind this one_" He thought and kept creeping ahead, not aware that his cape was trapped under a large crate.

He knocked it over

"Over there! You, Freeze!" he quickly stood up and turned around. At the end of the dark isle stood, no, _Flew_, a dark girl with tight black leather pants, a midriff revealing yellow-black stripes shirt, large lips, big brown eyes, two strange looking balls of hair on top her head

"_Bee wings? That's just tacky_" He thought. The girl was in utter shock at the sight of him, he used that and sprinted towards her, leaping into a jump kick. She snapped back into reality, picking up her B guns and zapping two electric rays in his directions

He disappeared

She didn't even have time to react before he reappeared, behind her, in mid air, his cape swinging in the air. The momentum carries his foot into the back of her neck, knoking her out and leaving an X shaped bruise. She was stopped cold.

"You!" He heard a voice. He turned around and saw the most horrifying thing that he had ever layed eyes on; A tidal wave was coming right at him, destroing the isle he was standing in. What's scarier was that there was a young man in a wetsuit, _riding_ it. He jumped left and teleported, dodging the wave at the nick of time. He landed on a differant floor, fixing his breath, he suddly saw a flash of white and red coming at him. He didn't even have time to resond before the flash went between his legs and pulled him down to the floor. He knocked his chin on the floor and rubbed in, as the flash was coming at him again

"Fool me twice? Don't think so" He mocked and slapped his palm against the floor. A red line passed under the flash as the floor tore open

Allowing two screaming spanish boys to fall down

"Easy enough" He said and got up when he heared the roar of the water again. He turned around and saw Surfer Boy coming at him again. His right palm produced a single X which he threw in that direciton. Aqualad did not notice the small red projectile entering the wave, what he did notice was the immense electric shock that he took. Knocking him out and thus bringing the wave down to spill all over the floor, spreading water all around.

"What a kick off" X said and chuckled. He gave the order for a power check, the reading showed nine percent.

"_I'm good to go on another one of those if I want to_" He bragged, heading towards the exit. Where he met his last opponent. The guy was a Robin wonnabe. Same mask, but red dressing instead of the christmas outfit, and a bow with a quiver of arrows

"Y..You...I thought you were DEAD!" He exclaimed and hopelessly tried to load an arrow into his bow.

"_Fear's definatly a factor for him_" X thought. He bolted towards the shocked fighter and leaped into the air, aiming a dive kick

"Think again"

End Chapter two! Different Summary to attract more people! Next chapter's due next week! Later dudes!

Oh! Review please!


	3. Enter Strike Force

Whoa! My very first review! and a long one too! Thanks! Much appriciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans and/or any of their related merchendise. Also, I don't own Metallica's Fuel.

Chapter Three: Enter Strike Force.

It started by a slight movement of a finger, then, another joined the first, sonly enough, a fist was clutched, resting on the cold metal surface of the storage unit. The fist gave enough leverage for the young, agile body to lift itself to an upright sitting position.

The girl groaned as a ninty pound hammer of headache was beating on her head continuously, delivering a pulsing sensation that could be definatly defined as a splitting headache. She rubbed the back of her neck sofly, it hurt.

The bruise was still fresh

"If there's one thing you can't trust the Teen Titans to do..." He headache spoke as she rubbed the back of her neck "Is to make sure that what they take out stays out" She tried getting up, but the room was spinning WAY too fast for her to acomplish that.

She continued sitting still, staring at the large dark metallic racks that held Wayne Enterprises utmost secret inventions. Lucky for her that X didn't go after any of them, she couldn't tell which of those devices was a high tech toaster and which was an atomic bomb.

Finally able to pick herself up, she started walking towards where she remembered the exit was. On her way, she heard water dripping slowly; Aqualad can't be too far. Speeding up, she started walking faster towards the sound, her heels making loud 'Click' noises as they thump across the cold metal floor. Going in and between large metal isles, she noticed that her boots were sunk into a foot high puddle of water. She started running, stress was building up inside her; Aqualad could be seriously hurt, or worse. As she was running, she pulled out her communicator and tried to reach Speedy, Mas and Menos, there was no response, which only made her heart beat faster. She heard a groan to her left, behind the isle

"Aqualad!" she cried as she grabbed the outer pole of the isle and used to to swing to the other side, to find her friend lying on the floor, rubbing his head. She jumped beside him and knelt down, wanting to take a better look at him

"Please. Don't scream" he muttered "If there's something I DON'T like about water, it's the fact that they're such a good conduct"

"He got you too, huh?" she said sofly while helping her friend reach a sitting position. He nodded

"He's much more than what Robin credited him for" the Atlantian continued "He's fast, smart and fearless" he chuckled "I mean, why else would he attack you head on?" Bumblebee laughed. It hurt a bit

"We better get going and find Speedy and the twins" she said while getting up, Aqualad was quick to follow, walking beside her deeper into the huge structure

"Better contact the Titans, Lad" Bumblebee suddanly said

"We need to tell them X is back"

(S)

"Oh man, WHAT. A. RIDE!" X radioed. He almost forgot what it's like to fight superheros instead of running away from them. He took his Jet Ski from a wild joyride all over the Jump City bay. He used waves as ramps and was trying to reach higher and higher to the heavens with the nimble machine, cutting through smaller walls of water and riding the big ones, jumping high into the air. At the corner of his eye, he spottrd a cluster of lights, red and blue; a freighter. He steered his Jet Ski towards it, turning on the Afterburners on his vehicle and blasting towards the large ship. He was going faster and faster, closing on the huge vessel, the roar of the engine was loud enough to hide his own scream of excitement.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!"

He caught the edge of a large wave and was sent flying above the freighter. Scared personnel were watching him with awe as his Jet Ski was spinning around itself. Up where X was, things were going in Slow Motion; he glanced at the people below, at the numerous structures on the deck of the ship, shining in the night and at the city's skyline, glowing in the darkness like milions of lightbulbs. The young theif switched his weight to the right, stopping the Jet Ski from spinning and landing it in the sea, erecting a large splash of water as he did and continued towards the darkness

(S)

"...Potentially dangerous theif. He calls himself Red X. Rumour has it that he's going for the second piece of the device"

"This could pose a threat to the Strike Force"

"We've seen him in action aboard the Wayne ship. The chap wasn't impressive what so ever"

"Still. If he gets that second piece...He might try to take the Strike Force out"

"Is he even aware of our presence? I mean, he did just _JUMP_ over our command center"

"Silver. As your commanding officer, I order you to shut up"

"Yes sir"

"Fuel? Your piece of opinion?"

"We should contact Kad and see what she says"

"Whoa. Fuel saying something other than **BURN!** Now I'm impressed"

"Silver..."

"Yes sir"

"I agree with Fuel. We should contact Kad and see what she has to say"

"Same goes for me"

"It's made then. Sorry Silver, you're out-voted four to one"

"What? Come on! Boom-Boom, Blank!"

"Don't even try it, Silver Fang"

"Alright. **Sir**"

(S)

It was a fairly nice retreat. If you're in to all those 'Bigger-Than-Life-Itself' manner types. The house was huge, like a palace. With WAY more rooms that the Tower. Heck, it took Beast Boy about two hours to count all of them. It wasn't as far away from the city as the other titans though; an hour or two on the T-Car, on the busiest hour of the day. People stared at the five from their cars' windows, a schoolbus filled with cheerleaders and football players actually stopped traffic to preform in front of the team. They enjoyed the gesture, even Raven did, it was nice to see people think kindly of them

"We're in a real hurry. Seriously, there'll be a time for that later" Robin tried to say while fending off hordes of screaming girls. He did enjoy the attention, just as any guy would, only he hid it, unlike Beast Boy who was signing autographs at an inhuman speed

"Come on girls. Really, there's pleanty of B to go around" He said, but when he saw the meaningful look the reast of his team gave him, he silenced himself and got back to the car, not wanting to draw anymore attention.

Right now, the green Changeling was ideling in one of the main chambers, which was the size of the Titans' living room. It was a huge white room, with a real fireplace that burnt in crispy orange flames, spreading it's light all across the room. Beast Boy looked at the flames with a certain awe. After all, as much as he was a 'Boy', the 'Beast' in him still came included with the primal feal of fire, that fear made him stare at the flames with admirition, mixed with some caution.

He got tired of sitting still pretty quick and left the room, leaving through two large wooden doors with golden knobs and amazing craftswork on the wood, resembling two lions guarding the letter 'W', he climbed up a staircase into Raven's room. The first thing she did was to unpack, so that her new room looked like her old room in many ways; the dark curtains, the bookcaes, the scary looking puppats and dolls, and to top it all off; her large velvet bed. He entered her room and took a quick look around. She was sleeping sound, her head tilted sideways, breathing slowly as she did. He liked watching her sleep, it calmed him down for some reason.

Knock, knock

Raven groaned and buried her head in the pillow

"Raven?" Came a girl's voice through the half opened door, Starfire. Beast Boy shushed her and tip toed out out the room, he slowly closed the door behind him, putting the room back to it's orignal state of darkness

"Beast Boy, I need to speak with Raven, it is rather urgent" Starfire said and tried to get past him back into the room

"She's trying to sleep, Star!" the green boy exclaimed queitly. Starfire frowned

"Oh, I know" she said, sulking "But the thing that I must discuss with her, is very important, I must talk to her about it"

"Well tell it to me!" He said, smiling widely. Star gave gim an odd look

"I'm afraid I cannot. It is related to 'the Stuff of Girls'" Beast Boy raised an eyebrow

"Is it something higenic?" He asked cautiously. She shook her head "Something physical?" Another no

"Good!" he cried "Then you can tell me all about it while we sit in front of the fire!" he said while pulling her down the stairs with him. The reentered the main chamber and sat down on a large, colorful, soft carpet placed on the floor, the fire crackled in front of them with tiny red and orange sparks that almost seemed to be cracking in a certain rhythem

"So what's the trouble?" the Changeling asked. Starfire looked down on the rug and ran her hands through it

"Well, you see" she started "Normally Raven would just know what is wrong with me...As she can read minds" Beast Boy raised his eyebrow

"Then it's not a girl thing, it's a mind reader's thing" he stated. Starfire unwilingly nodded, the boy laughed

"As far as I can tell, you can, err, speak for yourself! So, uh, spill!" He gestured his hands towards her. That's when he noticed she wasn't even looking at him, her head was scanning the room, and she was sniffing

"Hey, star, STAR!" he yelled, annoyed. "Are you even listening to me?" she lost her focus and looked at him

"Aren't you smelling it?" she asked, with a puzzled expression on her face

"Smell what?"

"Gasoline"

(S)

"**WHAT!** HOW? WHEN?" Robin yelled. His head was red hot from rage, nostrails flaring, heart beating at sixty miled per hour. The samll yellow device in hand was about the desintigrate from the pressure he was applying on it. He paced through the room and hit random things with his free hand, knocking them to the ground and breaking them. On the floor were fragments of china and porcelan, monuments of his frenzy

"That's what we're trying to find out" Bumblebee, on the other side of the communicator said. She never knew why Beast Boy and Cyborg oftenly called Robin Spaz, behind his back, of course. Now she was starting to see it

"Well, maybe you fought a copycat, or one of Slade's robots, or- " Robin tried. Hopefully trying to prove he didn't make the biggest mistake of his life when he adressed the press two days ago. Bumblebee secured the icebag to the back of her head and reloacted on the large chair, trying to make it a bit more comfortable

"Trust me, Robin. That _wasn't_ a copycat. He took us all down in less than two minutes. I can't even realize how did you stop him!" she replied, annoyed. Before that encounter, she had full trust in herself and her team's ability, but after that single battle with Red X, it all crumbled. It was then that she actually realized how weak is her team in comparrison to the Teen Titans. Robin noticed that

"Don't blame yourself" He said, taking her out of her shock. She gave him an odd look

"I'm not?" she said, but at the same time thought "_How could he see I'm blaiming myself?_"

"Come on, Bee. I've spent years studying people's faces to tell if they're lying during investigations. Your face has guilt written all over it" He paused to take a deep breath, her face softened

"Red X was planned for blitz battles in close quarters, both weapon-wise and psychologically; the looks of the suit is meant to shock and give the fighter a slight advantage. The hard hit Xenothium weapon system is meant to neutralize or stun a target in a couple of seconds, and to top it all off..." he bit his lip, remembering how he had argued with himself about installing the last two systems

"The cloaking and teleportation systems. For a quick getaway, or a quicker sneak attack"

"Tell me about it" she replied, feeling her throbbing neck "But you were able to beat him!" she attacked again

"On our third try" he said coldly. "And we continued to fight him even after that. Red X, whoever he is, is very resourceful" He paused "There's one thing I don't get though" That woke her up. A chance to work in tight cooperation

"What's that?" she asked

"Cyborg and I profiled X's targets. He usually goes for easy marks that pay off big; jewelary, diamonds, that sort of thing. Something you can ditch fast and cash in even quicker. See?" she nodded

"What was he looking for at the storage ship, then?" Robin asked, not knowing if it was a retorical question, Bee answered

"His belt, duh" but Robin saw that coming; he turned on the split-screen mode on his communicator

"Cyborg. Come in, Cyborg" he said. The android quickly replied

"I need you to pull me out the cargo manifest of C.V-29087 Dash 23 from three days ago, and a recent inventory list"

"Why?" Cyborg answered. His voice again, hollow. Hearing that almost crushed Bumblebee's heart, hearing her friend so drepressed

"It's not like we're going back any time soon"

"Oh yes we are" Robin replied. Cyborg's eye opened with surprise "Red X isn't dead, bro. You didn't kill him"

"**WHAT!**" Cyborg yelled. Nearly blowing the Boy Wonder's ear out

"Bumblebee will fill you in later. But I need those lists A.S.A.P"

"Umm, sure, right away man!" Cyborg replied. His voice was different, resembling his former joyful tune. That alone put the stinger back in Bumblebee, seeing how he recovered so quickly.

"Alright, I got it" Cyborg said. His usually red eye had now two small blue sqares it it, but inside the Android's head, they were mega sized versions of the forms Robin requested

"Good. Now compare between the two and tell me what's missing" he leader said. Cyborg got to it, it didn't take his hyper fast CPU more than half a second the sort between the thousands of items on the list and find the missing one

"An uncharted item marked E Dash 453 Slash X-"

"That's gotta be the belt. What else?" He said. It alerted Cyborg. Did X get his belt back?

"Err, a core module for a V.G-900570pw" Cyborg paused "Robin, that's one of the pieces needed to build an operational prototype for a ViperClaw II Particle Weapon"

"What's that?"

"To put in short terms, it's an upgraded version of the weapon Slade wanted you to use on us when you were his apprentice" Robin bit his lip. He remembered how devastating was that weapon when he tried it during his fight with the titans. He nearly blew the whole rooftop and wounded his friends when the shot bearly passed near them

"Wait—What's this apprentice talk?" Bumblebee stepped in

"Cyborg will fill you in later" Robin said, slightly irritated, or was he worried? "I think it's pretty clear that whatever X is doing, he's not doing it alone"

"You think someone faked his death?" Bumblebee asked

"Possibly" Cyborg replied "What better way is there to get us off the best theif around than to make him die? Then later on use him to steal the ViperClaw II for who knows what purpeses"

"Then we gotta stop him!" The leader of the Titans East said

"No" Both Cyborg and Bee gave the Boy Wonder an odd look

"What do you mean no?" they both asked. Robin grinned

"For some months now, a group of super powered theives is knocking off major tech companies, taking only high tech weapons that worth almost zero in the arms market, since they're just prototypes. Those theives used to only go for cash targets, like X did"

"So you think there's a connection between those guys and X? Maybe someone who's pulling the strings?" Cyborg asked

"Exactly, and like I know X, it won't take him too long to see that he's just a tool in this guy's hands-"

"And that's when we jump in!" Bumblebee exclaimed. Robin smiled

"Bingo. Both Titans teams will attack. We'll take down X, that other theif team and the puppet master in one swift blow" He said and slammed his fist against the table

"Three birds with one stone, I like it!" Bumblebee announced.

"Good" Cyborg told her "Now go update the rest of the Titans East. We'll do the same here"

(S)

_Twenty Minutes ago..._

"Kad. I mean, ma'am. We need to talk to you, it's urgent"

"You got my attention, Striker. What is it?"

"The info you sent us about two weeks ago, about Red X. We've had a sighting"

"When?"

"About thirty six hours ago, ma'am. Two hours before our designated deployment aboard the Wayne ship"

"And the module?"

"He took it" There was a sigh

"Then you'd better beat him to the second piece. You have the coordinated, correct?"

"Yes ma'am. We're good to go tonight"

"Not tonight, Striker. You won't be able to do it with a four people crew"

"Four? Ma'am, we're five"

"Call up Fuel. I have a job for him"

"Yes ma'am. Strike Force. Out"

(S)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"**STARFIRE!**" Robin raced out his room down the stair where he came across Raven, who was recently awaken from her sleep, and Cyborg who, like him, had just finished talking to bumblebee. As they ran towards the direction of the scream and reached the main chamber, where Beast Boy and the Tamaranian princess were talking; the wooden doors were flaming. Robin tried to open the door, but the knob was red hot, he quickly drew his hands away and shook them in pain, it sizzled.

"The inside temprature is insane!" Cyborg cried and kicked the door down.

It was an Inferno

The whole parameter of the room was filled with flames that erected from the ground to the ceiling, eating away at drapes, color and windows, causing the glass to explode. In the center, stood Beast Boy and Starfire, the first completely terrified and the latter crying her lungs out for help.

"I'm coming, Star!" Robin cried and bombed a way in using his Liquid Nitro discs. He and Raven slid in during the few seconds in which the ice held it's own

But the flames came again, bursting from within the water

"They're not natural! Something's causing them!" Cyborg cried while trying to spray water all over the flames

"_You got that RIGHT!_" A voice boomed. Out of the fire place, a figure stepped. It was a man, dressed entirely in black; Black cargo pants, a black shirt covered by a foot long black trench coat that hid two black boots with steel tips and a pair of black sunglasses that couldn't hide the two small red glowing eyes. He ran in an amazing speed around Beast Boy and Starfire, trapping them in a circle of flames, which only made the latter screm louder

"_A word of caution_" He said. His voice was raspy, and sounded like his own throat was on fire

"_Stay away from what happened aboard the Wayne vessel. Unless you want me to drop by for another social call_" With that, his body seemed to catch fire; he completley burst into flames and was sucked, along with all the other flames in the room, back into the fireplace. The three superheros ran towards their friends and grabbed them. Beast Boy passed out into Raven's hands. Starfire couldn't stop crying

"So you think that was one of them? Of those super theives?" Cyborg asked. Robin looked at him while holding Starfire close

"They have a name now" he looked at a red hot smoldering inscription left on a huge metal sculpture that stood in one of the room's corners

"Strike Force"

------------S---------

Author Notes: Hell yeah! I got a review! Once again thanks, and I hope this chapter pleases you as well! Keep on reading and reviewing! Bye bye!


	4. Inevitable Clash

Alright! Two reviews! Wicked! I'm one happy author! When I'll get five I'll reply to all reviewers, promise!

Anyway, just do you'd know. Your reviews mean much to me!

Disclaimer: I own the new summary, and some other things, but I still don't own the Teen Titans

Chapter Four: Inevitable Clash

An adult man, about forty or so, was driving his good old car across the Jump City bridge. He finished his work two hours ago and had already called his wife on his cellphone to tell her to get ready and dressed, as he was finally taking her out to the famous play 'Haunted: A Hero's Path to Insanity' written by the amazing writer, David Slack. He left his work early, nearly half an hour before his shift was over, and hurried home. The Jump City streets were as clear as usual, a typical fall evening, with slight trickling of water droplets, that slowly turned into slight rain

That quicly developed into a full fledged thunderstorm

Using the term 'Driving' as the man's action was slightly over stating his action. For the past hour and a half, he has been stuck on the accursed bridge, gripping the steering wheel on his car with growing annoyance as the heavens poured galons of cold icy water from above, along with a frequent clap of a thunder and the flash of lightning. Traffic has been stopped because of an injury free car accident on the Steel City side of the bridge, where many firefighters and policemen stood, along with two dazzled drivers, looking at a pile of twisted metal and wreckage that used to be one of Cook's Electronics' delivery trucks and another wreck, on which you could still make out the logo of Texan Tex's Oil, standing in the middle of a huge, slippery black puddle. Policemen were redirecting traffic away from the puddle with red flares as firefighters were helplessly trying to suck and cover the huge stain with sand. The process, althogh important and despite the fact that not doing it would risk countless lives, was running in an unnervingly slow speed, causing a quire of horns to be sounded off from the direction of the brigde.

"...And now for the weather; an unforseen storm hits the bay area. Drivers are told to use cation to avoid accidents. Some delays in traffic are expected"

"Yeah, no kidding" muttered Glen. The forementioned driver. He shut his radio off and lit himself a cigarette, inhailing deep. It calmed him for some reason, he reached for his phone to call his wife and notify her of her delay when the latter rang right in his ear, startling him

"Yes? Oh hi Mike, did the game already start?" He paused to inhale again "Staying at the building? Oh come on, why?" he swore under his breath, going with his wife to the show made him miss the biggest match of the season: The Steel City Tiger Vs. The Metropolis Colossess

"_All this whole car accident thing made half the police force disappear, so we have to stay here untill they come and take it away_" Mike replyed

"You mean the accelerator is still at the lab?" Glen sounded horryfied "Mike, watch yourself, man, don't risk your life if one of those super theives come for it, just give it away" his friend's response came as a chuckle

"_Come on man, who's gonna try and steal it? I bet they don't even know it exsists_"

"Mmm...I dunno" Glen inhaled more poison down his lungs "I guess Slade, or Overlord, or Red X...Err, what're you asking me for anyone?" In response to that, Mike burst out laughing

"_Man, you should read the papers more often. Overlord's been locked up for the past month and Slade and Red? They're dead man! D-E-A-D, dead_!"

"Well still, watch our for yourself. I'm gonna call Donna. Later" Glen hung up, and once again was about to call his wife, when something caught his eye; up on one of the bridge's support pillars, he saw something when the lightning flashed; a dark figure, hidden entirely by the color black, it's cape, torn at the bottom, flapping in the wind. Lightning flashed again, he got a better look at the figure, and the white, skull like features of it's face. He couldn't believe his eyes, that wasn't possible.

By the next lightning flash, Red X was gone.

(S)

"We couldn't have hoped for a better night. This thunderstorm makes sure no police choppers are gonna interfere with our action"

"It's like Kad knew it was gonna happen. Ya'think she has something to do with it?"

"Come on Boom Boom. She's just human"

"Yep"

"And I hope Fuel did his job the way he should've"

"You bet it, Striker. Those Titans are way too overcooked to do anything about us"

"Good. Silver, Blank, you're our early recon team. If anything happens, assistance codeword is 'Jade'. The clear codeword is 'Diamond'"

"What's this 'Ruby' code, Striker?"

"That's in case Red X shows up. We deploy at midnight, team. Get a lot of rest"

(S)

"I at least hope you spent that hour and a half casing your target, my friend" Pedro's voice greeted X as he stepped in through one of the many access ladders of the secret lair. Unlike the outside, the lair radiated a relaxing warmth that greeted the soaked Red X as he entered. The theif looked up to the huge screen and waved it off

"Casing? You've gotta be kidding me. That'll take all the fun out of it" he said and sat down on one of the chairs in the lair. He gave the place a look; it wasn't too shabby at all, with all the walls painted in a golden tone, showing off some curves that made it clear that those walls were indeed metal and not concrete. The floor was also golden, giving X the feeling that he was sitting in a huge gold bar, like the many that he had stolen.

"I believe you made a mistake, my dear friend" Pedro said, soundig a bit concerned "I have heard that a rival band of tech theives, known as the Strike Force, are planning to take your target for themselves"

"That so? Well, good. At least I won't get bored"

"Are you always disrespecting your enemy in that matter?" The Hispanic voice roared, obviously annoyed. Red X paused for a few seconds, seemengly thinking of an answer

"Yes"

"You are too cocky and overconfident, that will be your undoing, dear theif" X chuckled

"Wow, you read me like a book" he said and kicked back in the chair "I think that with all these extra theives running around, I'm gonna need some extra Xenothium. Doncha agree?"

"Indeed" the voice said. In front of X, a portion of the wall opened, revealing two long viles of the unstable chemical. He eyed the glass tubes and the liquid inside them for quite a long while before finally taking them and inputting the red fuel into the belt

-Power: 100- the red bar announced inside X's heads up display. He was fully loaded and ready for action. He felt all those percents of raw power flowing through the suit's weapon systems; an intense heat going through his body

"I want action. Now" he spoke harshly. He was truely feeling the need to kick butt. In response, Pedro chuckled and pointed towards a remote wall from X's location. The wall split in half, horizontly, allowing the two halves to split mechanically with the sound of hydraulic pistons working.

X turned his head towards the noise and his eyes widned. He stared at the mechanical masterpiece that stood in front of him and knew no words or phrases to describe it. It was absolutley

"Beautiful" he was finally able to utter.

It was a motorcycle; a custom made racing bike, he knew the model, it was one of those brand new Tomahawk bikes. The fastest, slickest piece of metal in the racing world, it hit the tracks about one year ago and swooped it in a blazing firestorm, and this was next year's model

"As you can see, Robin and whoever's sposering him, didn't save a single penny when it came to perfecting the Red X weapon system" Pedro said, and was right; the machine had undergone at least two engine upgrades from what X saw. A small hidden Nitrous Oxide tank was located right below the grey seat, connected by a network of pipes to the concealed engine.

The think was colored almost identicaly to the Jet Ski; slick black, with two X's crossing the sides and the white skull out front

"Seems pretty impressive, doesn't it? Our extraction team pulled it out just yesterday" Perdro said, self sufficiatly, dared X think, but he couldn't care less about that. His entire attention was deticated to the bike

"Aside from an amazing colorwork, what can this baby do?"

"Zero to sixty in one point five, a top speed of two hundred and foury miles per hour, that's one and a half faster than the T-Car. The framework is entirely Carbon Fiber and P.V-97, the same materials used in Stealth Fighters, to assure any more _accidents_ won't happen" That sentence made X flinch, he could still remeber being tossed up like a rag doll in the middle of the huge fireball.

"And of course, a built in Xenothium powered weapons system, including an experimental accelration system, and your oh so beloved cloaking field"

"Yeah, but does it play Bach too?" X joked while walking towards his newfound way of transportation, which turned towards him on its metallic dome. X gazed at the white skull in his bike's front, and then the red X that was below it. The lights bounced off the black metal in such a way that gave the bike a somewhat frightning aura. He stepped onto the machine and started it up. The bike's engine didn't roar like X tought. It was more of the sound of a buzz saw

"Well, I guess nothing's perfect" He said and looked at the red clock on his dashboard

23:49

"Twenty minutes to get there, another fifteen to take the accelerator and twenty more to get back. Don't worry honey, I'd be home for dinner" he said and zipped out of the lair in a mind blowing speed, towards jump city.

Behind the screen, Pedro grinned

"That's what you think, _my friend_" the last two words were once again said in a woman's voice. The screen, now no longer projecting the image of the large hispanic man, was instead presenting the empy lair with that of a slim woman, who reached down to something in her pants' pocket

"_Striker? One of my scouts notifyed me that he spotted Red X en route to your target. You are to execute Ruby code. Do whatever it takes to get that accelerator_"

"Yes ma'am, will do" Striker said and hung up. Kad grinned and sat back in her chair, observing the many security cameras inside the tech company's building. She licked her red lips

"Oh yes, there will be blood"

(S)

Wolfman Tech's company building was your avarage Office building Lab combination; the building itself was built upwards, about fifteen floors high, colored typical brown with blue glass windows that seemed dense in the dark rainy night. The first two floors had an expansion built to it's left, branded with a large W, crossed by T, in gold; the labs themselves. There must've also been an underground continuation of the lab structures

Where their target was.

Inside the office building, at the second floor, a vent shaft was kicked open by a white boot, its cover falling to the ground with a loud 'CLING' noise. Out of the vent dropped two girls

The first, the one wearing the white boots, was fairly tall, she was wearing white uniforms that seemed to be made of some reflective fabric. Her outfit consisted of knee high boots, long white pants and a midriff revealing shirt. On the right portion of her chest was a black circle, inside which were the letters S and F. Her face were kind, though strange, as her lips, like her eyes were painted silvery gray, much like her hair

She landed in a cat like position, got up and dusted her white uniform of the dust that stuck to her from crawling inside the vents

"Next time I'm letting Fuel take the recon mission and I'll be with the strike unit, he'll just love those close, confined spaces" she coughed "And the dust"

"Ah, stop yer whinin'" a french girl's voice replied to her. She looked to her left, but saw no one. She smiled, revealing two small fangs

"Already going invisible, Blank?" she teased and in response got her shoulder nudged slightly

"Come on, zee others are waiting" the voice told her. She nodded and got up, walking down a long dark hallway and constantly sniffing the air. Suddenly, she stopped and growled, revealing that the silvery fangs inside her mouth got a little longer

"What is it, Lauren?" the French girl's voice asked

"There's someone in here, I can smell him" she replied. "He's up ahead, let's keep on walking"

As they did, they approached a meeting point of their hallway and another, lit by two or three small lights, on the left side was a single fire extinguisher and a red fire alarm button

"Ow! Watch it blank!" the girl with silver hair cried after feeling that her invisible teammate had bumped into her shoulder, harshly.

"It wasn't me, you're-" the girl stopped and looked at her friend. Her eyes were wide open, revealing two eliptic cat like pupils. She quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall, removed the pin and sprayed the hall with grey dust, while her invisible friend hit the light switch to her right.

The hallways was now lit in flshing white lights, as the large florecent lightbulbs had a couple of secods needed to warm up, but that all the two girls needed

In front of them stood the grey figure of a man, covered in the grey particles, they couldn't recognise any features in his body, only his cape, which was down to his feet, and torn at the bottom

"Get over here!" the two girls cried and spirtned after him. He in response started running away from them, deactivating his cloaking device and revealing that the actual color of his suit was jet black, much like his cape. He made a sudden turn and disappeared into one of the doorways that were littere across the hallway's sides

"We got him cornered, let's go!" the french girl cried as they both stormed into the room, just to find their target standing behind a wooded desk that stood between them and him.

Silver knew who he was dead on, she couldn't mistake the red cross on the chest and the skull mask to any other person in the world. She stood face to face with Red X. The latter gave his infamous salute which she heard so much about and seemengly entered a fight stance

_Zzzrt_

In less than a second, he turned into a cluster of black lines and vanished out of sight. He reappeared outside the small room, placed his right palm on the password requiering keypad out side the room and bolted off, leaving a single red X on the electornic device. The latter then startred to crackle and give off blue and red sparks until in exploaded. Locking the room and the girls behind a thick steel door with the WT logo on it

"He's not getting away that easily!" the girl with silver hair cried in what sounded more like a roar. After which, the large door was litteraly ripped off its hinged, falling to the ground, all twisted and giving away sparks. The two girls stepped outside, Silver sniffed the air

"That way!" she cried and pointed in the direction where they were came from, they both darted in that direction, hoping to beat the masked theif to the prize

"I'm calling the strike unit, we need help with this one" the french girl said, a thing which was followed by the electric crackle of a radio

(S)

Red X stopped running and stood in front of the two steel doors, branded LABS with a red spary paint. He looked back to see if those two girls he locked in earlier were still following him. Nothing, the corridor was empty

"Good" he told himself and teleported behind the two doors

Just to recieve a jackhanner of pain to the right side of his head

The theif was seeing starts, but regained his sight quick enough to see a sharp green blade diving towards his neck. Without even thinking, he teleported out of harms way, allowing the sharp blade to make a deep cut into the floor

He reappeared a few feet out front in midair, his right hand located at his left shoulder. He unwound his right hand and unleashed a volly of X shaped shuriken towards the three figures who ambushed him. The three scattered away, allowing the sharp objects to hit the steel doors and detonate in a violent fireball.

X teleported again without even touching the floor and reappeared behind one the three; it was a man, wearing thich green and black tactical uniform and red headbang to gather his long dark hair. X landed on both his palms and swept the man off his feet using a low spinning kick. Continuing the same motion, he drew a large X shaped blade from the back of his right hand and aimed to jab it inside the man's throat, but he was faster and blocked X's blade with two small blades he drew from his thighs. The theif was so shocked by how fast the man was that he didn't have time to react when he spun of his back like a Break Dancer and gave X a hard spinning kick that sent him crashing to a nearby table with a grunt of pain, knocking over numerous scientific devices and breaking them on the floor. He shook the cobweb off his eyes and saw a comet of some sort; a huge flaming figure, dashing mad towards him.

Gripping what's left of his stamina, he jumped sideways, allowing the flaming figure to smash into the table, completley oblitherating it.

"Watch it, Match Stick, you'll hurt someone" X said, trying to gain some distance from the human inferno

"_Yeah, YOU!_" he said and unleashed a stream of roaring orange flames in X's direction, the latter dodging them with a roll to the left, followed by another throw of X shaped explosives in the pyro's direction

Impact

The dark space of the lab was lit up by the colorful explosion, knocking X back as he crashed against a metal closet. He got up and dusted himself off, when another flamethrower was shot in his direction. The theif teleported right behind the flaming man and aimed a roundouse kick to his head. He swung his foot with all the strength he could muster and nailed the man right in the ear, sending him flying and twisting around himself, towards the cold floor

X was about to make some cleaver remark about his triumph when his saw a series of small orange obrs, dotted randomly with black dots, landing around him in a circle. He didn't even have time to realize what was going on, much less to react, before the orbs detonated, blinding him. As he was trying to make his way through the sea of white, he recieved the painful feeling of a sharp high heel, being thrusted into his midsection. He curled up, trying to stop the endless waves of pain that went through his body, when he spotted in the corner of his eye, two hands collected into one fist, about to land on his head. Instinctively, he teleported behind the wielder of the fists and avoided the hit, taking the young woman off her heels with another spinning kick and preparing to thurst his backhand X blade into her chest, but as he thrusted his hand towards her, G.I. Joe tackled him from the side, taking him away from his wounded comrade.

The two rolled like a wild barrel across the floor, each trying to get an advantage over the other one in an attempt to drive a quick jab, or a kick, untill finally, they broke off; each jumping in oppiste directions

X made his stance at a far away corner of the lab. He has indeed underestimated his opponents, they were tough, not Titans tough, but sufficiantly enough to make the adrenaline pump through his veins. He cased his opponents now, there were three of them, two more stood in the doorway; Match Stick, G.I Joe and the black haired kicker stood out front. Behind them stood the silver haired chick and another one that he didn't recognize

"_Bet that's the invisible one_" he thought and readied himself for another throwdown, the standoff wasn't his style.

"Let us take the accelerator, and we _might_ let you get outta here in one piece" Striker said firmly, readying two more daggers in his hands

"I'd gladly would, but there's a little problem..." X's eyes narrowed down to slits, he threw his arms back and brought them back, filled with shining X shuriken that gleamed blood red under the fire.

"I want it"

That's all Striker needed to hear. He readied himself in a combat stance, as the rest of the Strike Force. The standoff was about to be broken any second, and then he cried

"Strike Force, attack!"

-----------

Author's Notes!

Wow! What a cliffie, Read and review, one more and I'll start responding, LOL! Hope you enjoyed it, cuz coming up next:

Chapter Five: Round Two!


	5. Round Two

Holy...did you catch that? Six reviews people! Six! That's like, one over five, and two more than last chapter number!

As promised, I will now reply to reviews, so here we go!

So to my beloved, and faithful reviewers:

**Splint**- Who stayed for each chapter and reviewed like a champ, Thank!

**Isa Lumitus-** Who worked carving cement for a long period of time and told of a fire hazard while working around an oil spill with flares (Kinda figures. Silly me)

And last but not least

**HC-** Who decided to log in and reviews last chapter. Thank you!

Now that that's done, hopefully do return next time, on with the show!

Disclaimer: No. Me no own Teen Titans.

Chapter Five: Round Two

To Lauren, Silver Fang, time seemed to stand still. She and her comrades, the Strike Force faced one of their most difficult chalanges as a team;

Red X

She heard all about him, both online and offline; spending numerous hours alone in her quarters, srearching the internet for anything related to the mysterious theif; pictures, security videos showing him in action, eluding the Teen Titans time and time again, slipping right under their noses. Her favorite was the security tape from the Western National Bank. She stared countless times at the five minute long footage, showing X go toe-to-toe with Robin as the two leaped, dodged and exchanged blows all over the bank, while the other titans try to assist their leader, but cannot because of how close he is to the theif. At one point, Robin flings a Birg-A-Rang which X dodges and allowes the projectile to hit the camera directly, causing a gradual reduction of the video quality untill there's nothing but static.

Boom Boom and Blank, the other two female members of the team, always teased her about her crush on the masked theif. Jokingly, they once said that if they'd have to confront him, she'd assist the theif instead of them. Her only response to that was a quiet giggle and a familiar saying

"All is fair in love and war"

She wasn't afraid to admit it, the theif was quite attractive in her opinion, and her room was like a a shrine dedicated to him; filled with newspaper clippings and items taken from crime scenes in which he was.

But now, things were different

Seeing him face to face showed her just how right were the rumours; X was all she expected, and then some, his skills, the overwhelming confidence, and the attitude. She never heard anyone answer back to Striker after they face him, but he did it so casually, it made her almost blush.

Seconds passed slowly. Outside, the rain grew stronger, thumping against the windows, lightning flashed, suddenly illuminating the laboratory with a bright white light, followed by the powerful thunder. X's muscles tightened, adrenaline pumping through his blood; compared to fighting the Teen Titans, this was going to be a walk in the woods. He tightened his grip, feeling the tips of the explosive shuriken in his palms poking him slightly.

Then, Soldier Boy opened his mouth

"Strike Force, **ATTACK!**"

Lightning flashed, Fuel launched two fireballs towrds X's location, but when the glowing white was gone, they saw there was nothing there but a small pillar of smoke, rising from the scorched ground

"Stick together, don't let him catch us by surprise!" Striker exclaimed, cursing under his breath. From the profile he read, X was a mastermind in using the element of surprise, throwing his enemies into disarray and then taking them out. He couldn't let that happen. The five theives collected themselves into a tight group, each looking in a different dirction, weapons at ready

"_So sweet_" X's distorted voice echoed. Striker's eyes widened, he couldn't find the source, did Red X teleport again?

_Zzzrt_

A cluster of black lines rematerialzed as Red X, appearing in mid air, slightly in front of Boom Boom. He threw his arm forward, launching a barrage of explosives towards the middle of the group. The Asian Bomber's eyes windened

"Scatter!" she cried out. The group responded, each jumping in another direction, avoiding the future blast. The explosives hit the ground and the five theives were knocked out of ballance by the huge shockwave.

X landed between all of them in a cat like stance. Using the smoke screen as cover, he went for the closest target he could spot; the Asian girl. He sent his leg across the floor and took her off her feet with a surprised cry, causing her to hit her head on the ground. The will to follow his attack patteren and go for a jab was pushing him, but he knew their teamwork was well to worked out to allow him enough time space to do that. Instead, he allowed the spinning momentum to keep on carrying him as he completed a hundred and eighty degrees spin on the floor, he faced Striker, who held his green blade up high, wanting to cut X's head in two like a mellon. The surprised look on the theif's face made X's eyes narrow as he used his powerful legs to rocket into the air and nail Striker a smashing uppercut right in the chin. The soldier flew back, howling in pain and landed on the floor, motionless.

"Nighty night, Soldier B-" A whisteling sound made X turn his head back to see a giant fireball, screaming towards him. With no time to even teleport, the fireball caught X's fire proof cape and exploded, sending the theif flying with a grunt towards a wall. Recovering, X teleported just in time to avoid the hit and then reappeared behind the human inferno, leaping at him with a fist.

As soon as he was about to make contact, Fuel disappeared into an explosion of red fire. He reappeared next to X, who was still caught by the momentum of his punch, and used both his hands to try and apply a painful Back Breaker, but X saw him reappear and anticipated that move. He rolled forward quickly, avoiding the double punch and tried another sweeping kick, but Fuel had already teleported into his cloud of fire. X didn't even bother looking and teleported as well, vanishing into a black blur. The both reappeared in front of each other with Fuel blasting away with fireballs and X dodging his attacks with another teleportation move.

"You're fast" X said, stopping for a second. Fuel reappeared as well, a satisfaction filled grin all over his face

"Too bad I'm faster" the theif continued and teleported again, appearing behind the human flamethrower with a shuriken inches from his neck. Fuel chuckled in his raspy voice

"_Speed isn't everything in life, Barbecue Boy_" he said and chuckled again. At that moment, a shining yellow glow started building up fast below X's feet. Terrified, he looked down with his eyes wide open; the patch of ground he was standing at was gaining a burning yellowish color

"_Landmines? Come on_!" his brain screamed. Just as he jumped in an attempt to avoid the mine's blast, the latter exploded into a huge fireball, sending X flying backwards

Fuel didn't waste a second and dashed after the cat burgler's body, jumping into the air and nailing him with a flying kick that send a white supernova of pain exploding into X's head. The extra boost from Fuel's kick sent the theif crashing against a steel beam. Dizzy, he didn't even have time to react before the flaming man grabbed him with a chockehold and pressed him against the beam

"Let's see what's under that mask of yours. Wonder if I could melt it off" he said venomously and brought a flaming palm closer and closer to X's face. Sweat was poring inside the suit, from both heat and panic

"You know, I put it there for a reason" the theif replied, grabbing Fuel's arm with both his hands and delivering a massive electric joult that appeared as a red crackling aura around the burning man's body, stabbing his nerves with knives of pain. He let go and backed away with a scream of pain, giving Red X the moving space he needed to gain momentum and smash the man's nose with a powerful fist

"Don't you ever-" an animalistic roar caused him to turn around in shock; two orange orbs bounced in front of his eyes and detonated. He stumbled back, shilding his burning eyes from the painfully white glow with his right arm, he was was attacked by something; an animal of some sort that jumped him and tackled him to the ground.

As he went down, he pushed his legs into the belly of the beast. Which were rock hard, litteraly. He used the thrust he gained from falling backwards and propelled the animal up and over him. He slowly started regaining his sight when he saw his opponent; a Panther, made out of some silvery matter, which skidded across the floor and growled at him angrily

"Easy there kitty, nice kitty..." he stammered while backing away slowly, seemingly frightened. The large cat licked its lips with anticipation and charged full speed towards the black suited theif

"Silver watch out!" the Asian girl cried, but in no avail

"Bye kitty" he said and planted his hand on the floor, sending a large X shaped line crossing throught the floor, destroying the floor under the panther and allowing it to drop to the floor below, screaming in a young girl's voice

"SILVER!!!" Boom Boom cried out and glared at the theif. Her teeth clenched as her hands filled up with tiny destructive ornage orbs, surrounded by an odd looking flame

"You...I'll make you pay!" she hissed through her clenched teeth "You'll pay for hurting my friends, I'll, I'll-" right in front of her eyes, he vanished, reappearing inches away from her, a bit bent down; his skull mask right in front of her face. His eyes narrowed. She gasped in shock

"You'll what?" he asked in his ever so mocking voice and slapped her hands from underneath, causing her to throw all the explosive orbs into the sky. He teleported again, leaving her to jump aside to avoid being hit by her own weapons, which landed on the floor and exploded loudly

"Better get that into your head, kid" X said as he walked towards the nearly fainted Boom Boom

"I'm not some pitty pick pocket you and your friends can boss around. Keep that in mind" he turned to leave her be, when something jumped into his head

"By the way, where's your- Uch!" his eyes went wide and then closed as he fell to the ground, unconsciouns

"Mess wiz zee best, burn like zee rest" Blank's voice said. The petite French girl materialized from thin air, holding a small black lead pipe. She dropped the pipe and assisted her friend up

"You okay?" she asked. Boom Boom replied with a nod

"I'll go and get the accelerator" she said fadely "You take care of the guys, I think he got Silver pretty bad, she fell one floor down" Blank gasped. The though of her friend badly injured sickned her, she hurried down to where X destoyed parts of the floor and looked down

"I'm going to get it" The Asian Bomber said, brushing some dark hair away from her face and limping away

"Be careful" her friend replied and without hesitation, jumped down

(S)

The two evlevator doors leading to the Living Room floor of Titans Tower opened with a hiss as two soaked ladies marched in; Raven and Starfire's outfits were drenched and changed their colors into darker than they originally are.. Starfire's hair was washed down and stuck to her back, she was trying to peel it off while walking, without much of a success

"Hey girls" Beast Boy said casually without even looking at them "How was the- Hey, you cut me off dude!" he screamed at Cyborg, who's virtual car just zoomed past Beast Boy's

"Hand to hand combat was just fine- ACHOO!" Raven replied, sneezing loudly as she did "It's just too bad that we only practiced the basic stuff" she squeezed her cloak, causing a fairly large amount of water to drop to the floor

"I told you I'd be happy to help if you asked" Robin interjected while moving his head with sync to the bass beat as some unknown Rapper was rhyming in the background

"We were aware of that, Robin, but we also desired to see how we will manage without your guidance" Starfire added, smiling

"And how did you-" Robin was starting to say something when he was cut off by the sound coming from the stereo, which wasn't a part of his Rap song

"_Reports are coming from southern Jump City about a recent heist that..._"

"The south end...that's the tech district!" Robin exclaimed while rubbing his chin "Cyborg, turn on channel six!" he commanded. The Game Station's T.V outline was drawn out by Cyborg's metallic hand while Beast Boy, working in perfect synchronisation with his friend, flipped the channel to channel Six, the News Mania channel

"...From the break-in that occured fifteen minutes ago at the Wolfman Tech company's headquarters..." Stan 'The Man' Jones, channel six's fearless field reporter was standing in the rain, one hand holding his microphone while the other was shaking to hold a black umbrella over his head. Behind him was the Wolfman Tech building, seemengly intact. Lightning flashed

"Turn up the volume" Raven demanded. The shape shifter complied

"...Yes indeed" Stan kept going "A news crew which was on its way to film a Sci-Fi convention that took place in the Jump City Planetarium caught this rare footage by mistake. Roll it again, Gary"

The screen turned static for a second and then displayed the Wolfman Tech factory as seen from a driving vehicle. You could hear the news crew chatting in the background when all of a sudden, the audio track was filled by the horrible sound of an explosion as a part of the labs structre went up in flames

"_Stop the car, stop the car!_" one of the people aboard the van cried out. The camera stopped moving as the camera man was now holding it and not allowing in to move.

Out of the flames and to the open road, zooming past the news crew's van, went a large, Hummer like vehicle, followed by three red speeding bikes. The camera man turned his camera to the other side of the van, trying to keep track of the group

"As you can see, Jump city has been 'jumped' by a new band of tech theives. Is it random? Or are those notorious villans here to stay? And where are the Titans East whom were promised to guard us? Has Jump City become a free land for criminals? All this and more, right after the break"

(S)

"Uch...Oh. Gonna feel that one in the morning" the masked theif groaned as he slowly got up, rubbing the back of his head. His entire body ached from the beating he took, but he didn't mind that. As soon as he looked out the windows, he saw the flashing blue and red lights of the JCPD cruisers and realised that he was in trouble. He fled the labs' structre and headed towards the underground parking lot. It was time to see what his new set of wheels could do.

(S)

"...The reports of eye witnesses describe the Hummer to be manned by two men, while the three motorcycles were driven by, and I quote 'Totally hot biker babes'. Strong words" the reported said gloomly, when something caught his attention; some sound, coming in from the direction of the building. A lone black motorcycle rocketed from the darkness and then skidded to a halt whie turning sideways to avoid hitting Stan and his camera man. The long black cape was obscuring the camera's view, but as soon as the cape fell down, it was clear to the Stan the he was about to have one of the golden moments of his carreer; a one on one interview with Red X

"Uh, X, Red X, any words for the public? How does it feel to be alive again?" he asked. X lowered his head towards the microphone, but at the corner of his eye, caught three of the JCPD's finest, line up behind a cruiser and take aim at him

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Cyborg asked, baffeled. The five Titans has their faces glued to the screen, even Raven was interested

"Well Stan, I'm a man of few words so I'll make this short" X turned his head towards the camera, still on his bike

"Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. The Batmobile lost a wheel-" A few quick bursts of red laser beams that sent mud flying into the air, made X gun his bike's throttle, turn around while splashing mud all around and rocket off, his cape flapping behind him in the rain and the three officers still shooting in his direction

"AND THE JOKER GOT AWAY!" Beast Boy and Cyborg shouted, much to Robin's dismay

"Pipe down!" he shouted. Beast Boy and Cyborg shooshed. He sighed

"This is serious, don't you get it?" he stated, annoyed "We meant for X to steal the accelerator so he could see what wrong is he doing and double cross his emplyer! But now... Now the plan's messed up, we're gonna have to make plan B. Somebody contact the Titans East"

A tad short, I know  But fear not, honorable readers of my fanfic, as I will make up for it in the next chapter! Promise!


End file.
